A Day at the Beach
by Bellalyse Winchester
Summary: A Secker story! The good doctor and action man...alone on a prehistoric beach...things could get interesting. Rated T for safety. Angst but it's rather funny so I'm calling it humor. Now finished!
1. Chapter 1

**Abby and Connor have returned from the Cretaceous, but two underdeveloped characters are about to find themselves trapped in the past. **

**In case you haven't already guessed, this is a Secker story. **

Becker. In swim trunks.

Sarah watched him stretch out on the edge of the sand. She had to admit he was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. He always wore so many little packs on the front of his armor that Sarah never had a chance to look at him properly, but shirtless he was impossible to look away from. So hot….his skin glistened with specks of water.

Connor and Abby had the idea of going to the beach; when they and Danny returned from the anomalies, Connor sporting a full beard and Abby's hair long and knotted, their first demand of Lester was that they get a weekend off. He grudgingly agreed and that was that.

Abby sat next to Sarah, sunbathing in a red bikini. Sarah wore a modest swimsuit with a skirt. Connor and Abby had a lengthy discussion on the way back from the anomaly of nothing but descriptions what they wanted to do now that they were back, and apparently the bikini had been one of Connor's conditions. Sarah was not a part of such conditions and she had no intentions of wearing a bikini; Abby had to twist her arm to get her to wear a swimsuit at all. Her idea of a day at the beach was curled up on a blanket with a good book.

Connor, Danny, and Becker were splashing around like kids in the waves. Becker, though the youngest of the three, seemed the most mature somehow. While Danny was dunking Connor underwater, he was laughing gently along the side; Sarah laughed then as Connor and Becker splashed water into Danny's face.

"Enjoying yourself, Sarah?" Abby asked. Sarah looked at her friend, almost counting the seconds she wasn't looking at Becker.

"Yeah," Sarah replied stiffly before returning her gaze to the men in the water. Becker was running towards the shore; Sarah guessed he was coming to get his surfboard.

He passed the girls, offering each one a smile before snatching his surfboard from the back of Danny's truck. Sarah's head turned involuntarily to follow him, and she assumed Abby noticed how her breath caught when Becker began to turn again and she turned back quickly, because the blonde's eyebrows were raised.

"Sarah," Becker said, and she looked up at him, trying to focus on his face instead of….everything else. His eyes were enough to capture her attention. "How'd you like to ride with me?"

Sarah looked at the board with a little fear. "Are you sure that's safe?" she asked. Becker nodded. Sarah bit the side of her mouth, unsure.

"She'd love to," Abby answered for her, waving her on. "She's totally bored up here, _captain_."

Sarah glared at Abby but got to her feet and followed Becker into the surf, where Danny and Connor were laughing about something or another.

"Recovering from the loss of that gun, Soldier Boy?" Danny laughed; Sarah was surprised to see the captain grimace seriously.

"Shut up, Quinn," he growled darkly. "C'mon, Sarah."

They were knee-deep in the water. Becker held the board steady.

"Get on," he said, and Sarah sheepishly climbed onto the board, a leg hanging off each side.

"I've never ridden one of these things, Becker," she said uncomfortably. He smiled gently at her as he sat down in front of her, his legs tucked beneath him.

"You'll be fine," he smiled. "Inch forward a little and put your hands on my waist. The waves can get pretty big out here."

The invitation made Sarah inhale slowly--she set her hands on Becker's hips and let her breath out.

Sarah saw that Becker had been telling the truth; a wave lifted her outstretched toes from the sandy floor and she pushed herself forward without thinking, wrapping her arms about Becker's stomach fearfully.

Becker laughed and she pulled her arms off of him. "No, keep them there--there's bigger waves out further."

"Um, I think I've changed my mind," Sarah breathed, but she returned her arms about the waist of the captain. Any excuse for this close contact was a good excuse, although she kept her back arched to avoid being _too _close.

"Hang on," Becker said, leaning forward so that he was laying out on the board. Sarah had to let go of him and clutch the sides of the board to avoid being thrown off. "Sorry, Sarah," he called back, but began to paddle forwards with his arms.

Sarah looked over the edge of the board, watching the water grow darker as it grew deeper. She felt herself freeze up and she pulled her feet upwards so that her toes almost touched the air. She was both terrified and exhilarated.

Suddenly a wave lifted them up several feet, she could've sworn. She shrieked Becker's name, and the captain looked up. A large wave was coming towards them, the kind that surfers loved and sane people avoided, in Sarah's point of view.

Becker made a noise that sounded happy and he somehow managed to climb from lying down up to his feet. Sarah grappled her legs to the sides of the surfboard and her knuckles were whitened as they clutched the board. She closed her eyes, and only opened them when Becker called her name out.

She found they were in a tube of water, and she screamed, but it was drowned out by the roar of the waves.

She saw Becker holding a hand out to the water, a finger slipping in and out of the wave and spraying water in tiny droplets over Sarah. It was sort of mystical, she had to admit, despite her terror.

He held his other hand down to her and she took it. He lifted her up and she put a hand to either side of his waist, laughing.

"Still scared?" he asked.

"Not as long as you're here," Sarah said before thinking. She flushed and Becker jerked around with wide eyes, losing balance.

"Wha--?"

Suddenly and rather ironically the board fell out from beneath their feet and the wave crashed down onto them. Sarah saw a flash of light suddenly.

Sarah and Becker broke the surface and their arms found one another as they struggled to stay afloat. Becker saw his board and pulled Sarah towards it. They clung to it, Sarah coughing and Becker looking at her concernedly.

"Come on, let's get to shore."

They swam towards the nearest shore, not noticing until they were crawling up onto the beach that it was not the same shore they had came off of.

"Hadrosaurs," Sarah breathed. At first Becker wasn't sure what she was talking about, but looking up from the sand he saw a massive herd of dinosaurs stepping towards them slowly.

"Oh, God," Becker breathed.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Primeval. Don't sue me...although it would be cool to be sued by the ARC. You know...not really, but still. **

They scrambled up the beach, watching from the foamy edge of the water as the dinosaurs bent their heads and drank. Sarah and Becker shook their heads in shock, unsure of exactly what to say.

Sarah was the one to break the silence.

"So…on this side, it's a lake," she said shakily. Becker stared at her in shock.

"A lake? Is _that _all you can say?" He gritted his teeth, bent down to snatch up a stone, and hurled it at the lake. It landed in the water with a _plop!_ "Page, we're in the past, and there's an anomaly out in that water who knows where, and you say it's a _lake?!_"

"Shut up!" Sarah cried. "Don't press me!"

"Come on, we've got to get back out there and find the anomaly." Becker stepped out into the water. "The others will be looking for us so we'd better be there to meet them."

Sarah was unwilling to question Becker; the look in his eyes scared her. She just followed him into the water, up to her neck and then finally she swam desperately after him. She couldn't see why he didn't enter the Olympics; he'd give that medalist Michael Phelps a run for his money. He was out farther than she supposed she'd make it but he waved her on still, and she splashed forward. She was an okay swimmer, but with the seafloor meters beneath her toes and the waters filled with unknowable beasties she was terrified.

"Damn it, Sarah!" he yelled, treading water with ease. "Look underwater for the anomaly!"

"Okay," she called, allowing herself for a moment to list back underwater. She couldn't open her eyes, however; she'd never been able to open her eyes underwater. She flapped her arms madly to surface, and she took a deep breath as she broke the surface. She coughed on water that found its way down her throat but she ignored it, forcing herself back below the surface again. She held her nose with one hand and managed to open her eyes to a squint before forcing herself back upwards.

Her hair was now matted to her head as she took in a fleeting breath before being pushed back under by the waves. She opened her eyes out of necessity, not sure what way was up, and saw a bright light several meters from her. She had to get there, it was right below Becker's feet, if she could catch his attention--

She broke the surface and called out to him. He somehow heard her.

"Becker! The anomaly's there!"

She didn't wait for him; she spun over in the water and kicked her way towards the light. It looked strange--did the water dilute its shimmer? Then she saw only in the nick of time that what she was swimming towards was _not_ an anomaly.

The massive sea creature's mouth opened, creating a vacuum that pulled her towards it despite her furious thrashing. She shrieked, more air leaving her lungs--she felt something grab her wrist and she fought against it, guessing it could only be another monster. She was too far under to ever make it to the surface but she didn't want to be caught between two sea monsters that would tear her apart. She lost all sense of direction as she managed to kick away from whatever was holding her, crying out with the last breath in her lungs--

"_BECKER!_"


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it's been so long! **

**I've been busy, between trying to sustain something similar to a life (I know some fangirls can balance fantasy world with real world but I'm not one of them) and writing oneshots on my laptop. High school would be better if there was less school involved. (Who am I kidding: I'm a geek. It's not hard, just boring.) **

**Once again, I'm sorry. **

**I don't own Primeval but I think I saw an anomaly yesterday. **

Sarah felt hot lips pressed up against hers.

She gagged, water gurgling up from her throat as she pushed herself from those lips and threw up on the ground next to her. It took several moments of retching before she could finally breathe; she winced, feeling worse than the past dozen hangovers she'd had combined. Her head panged and her throat burned and her stomach ached from forcing up all that water.

She slowly turned her head upwards, her lips quivering. Becker was looking down on her with relief and exhaustion.

"Had me worried," he breathed, holding a hand to his forehead. "God, I think we could both use a couple dozen aspirin after that, yeah?"

"What happened?" she asked, hating the burn that went through her lungs as she spoke.

"It wasn't an anomaly," Becker said, only a small amount of bitterness entering his voice. "There was a creature there."

"I noticed," she sighed. She sat up and held a hand to the back of her head.

"I tried to grab you to pull you away, but I guess you were disoriented and thought I was another creature."

Sarah grimaced. "Oh," she said quietly.

Becker shook his head quickly. "Doesn't matter, doesn't matter," he continued quickly. "You passed out and I managed to get you to shore. I was so scared, you'd stopped breathing--" He seemed to really that he was rambling and he shut his mouth quickly, looking out to the water, where the waves cut thin white lines of foam into the clear, blue water. The hadrosaurs had passed their little patch of beach, beginning to mingle between the water and the forest. Sarah slowly saw how lucky they were; there were surely worse anomalies to fell through. They had clear, blue fresh water laid out before them and a thick green forest to their backs. The sun was spreading its last few rays over the wide lake.

It was actually kind of pretty.

Sarah clasped her hands to her shoulders, feeling a cool breeze, but she saw Becker in only swim trunks and grimaced. They were both soaked and if the air got any colder he'd be the one freezing first. He'd stick it out, though--she knew he will.

"You were right," he said suddenly, and she looked up at him in surprise. "About--it's a lake. You were just thinking about what we'd do if the anomaly was closed. That we can drink the water, if we have to."

Sarah felt a surge of red enter her cheeks and she nodded slowly. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes thoughtful.

"Come on, Sarah--I think we'd better set up a camp of some sort." He stood and held out a hand for her to accept. She took it and let him lift her up, meeting his eyes for several long moments before they both turned their gazes to the forest and started towards it.

Sarah noticed how businesslike Becker became once her gaze left his; he managed to hold himself professionally, his shoulders back and his face forward. She knew she was little help with lifting felled trees--she was probably a hindrance at best, stumbling over her bare feet on the brambly forest floor and more than once stopping to pull thorns from her legs--but Becker didn't seem to care. He waited patiently for her, though he could've lifted most of the wood on his own. She observed how easily he moved across the ground, and suspected he'd learned to deal with situations like this in military training.

She laughed a little at that, doubting anyone had taught him how to survive among dinosaurs.

By the time the stars glistened on the water, they had a workable shelter on the edge of the forest. It was built into an old, dead tree. Becker and Sarah set relatively dry pieces of wood up onto one another so that one of them could be resting in a crevice of the tree while the other could be curled up among the roots, both with roofs to protect them from rainwater. Sarah even built a little gate around the roots to prevent water from spilling in. She was relieved to find that the cool breeze she'd felt earlier was by no means a representation of the climate; the air was, for the most part, warm.

After their work they sat on the sand, watching the stars run across the sky. Sarah's mind was swirling, caught between the events of the day, their being trapped in the past, and Becker.

"Captain?" she asked suddenly, and he turned his head to the side to face her.

"What?"

"What's your first name?"

Becker laughed. "Keep asking," he sighed, smiling.


	4. Chapter 4

**I feel so terrible that I haven't updated in forever! I am so sorry, but I hope the coming chapters make up for it a little. **

**I own nothing. Don't sue me. **

The next morning Sarah woke curled at the base of the old tree. She grimaced; her back was sore and her head still ached from yesterday. She bit her lip as she struggled to wake up.

This was the point of her day, in the 'present' at least, where she'd have groggily pulled herself out of bed and been a total zombie until she had her coffee. Here, there was no coffee. She mumbled a curse and pulled herself out of the little hole.

She saw that Becker was already up and about; his place in the tree was empty. A flash of worry pierced her--what if a dinosaur had--no, she saw him coming towards her, holding several long, rather thick sticks.

"Hey," he said, rather brightly for their situation. "Thought I'd make a fire for us."

"Good idea," Sarah said, holding a hand up to scratch the back of her head. Grainy sand and strands of dead plants were caught in her hair, which was tangled like a crow's nest. She knew she must look like a wreck and she cocked her head to the side. "Becker, I wonder if I can find a place to--you know, get cleaned up."

Becker furrowed his brow before opening his mouth and nodding. "Oh. Yeah, maybe there's a stream coming off of the lake. But stay close to our camp."

Sarah nodded, stepping out carefully into the forest. If they had to stay in this time period for any longer, she'd have to fashion some sort of shoes.

She didn't want to think about what would happen if their stay became permanent.

She walked for about ten minutes before she found a cool, clear stream. She wondered where it met the lake, but she decided right now she had greater needs.

She didn't like the idea of taking off what little she wore, but there was coarse sand grinding at her underneath her bathing suit. She removed her skirt first, laying it out on a large, flat rock. Then she warily pulled off the rest of her bathing suit, using the water of the stream to wash away the sand on her skin and on her clothes. She allowed her bathing suit to dry in the sun and used her skirt (she didn't have any great need for that) to dry her skin. Then she pulled on the bathing suit and her curiosity got the best of her.

She crept along, following the stream in the direction of the lake. She heard the skittering of little creatures in the brambles and stepped with care, not anxious to tread on any little critter that would give her the nice souvenir of an infected bite.

A dragonfly buzzed past her face and she leapt backwards with a shriek, her hand catching the trunk of a tree to brace herself from falling. If Becker saw her he'd be laughing….

She heard the sound of the creatures before she saw them; two little therapods shot out at her, snapping their sharp teeth angrily. But someone saw them.

Becker bolted out of the bushed behind her just as the dinosaurs appeared. He didn't look like he was thinking at all; he had a stick in his hand and he cracked it across the first one's head, knocking it to the ground. The second dinosaur he treated likewise, and it fell as well.

Sarah stared at him.

"Am I always gonna have to save your skin?" he breathed, a weak smile crossing his face. He dropped the stick to the ground and came towards her, laying an arm across her shoulders.

"Becker?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"What were you doing out here?"

Becker winced, a scarlet splotch crossing his cheeks and growing up into his ears.

"Nothing," he said.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so this chapter is just a little fluffy. It's not my fault they're absolutely adorable together!**

Becker watched Sarah carefully from where he collected rocks and laid them out in a circle. She always seemed to find trouble, that girl. Was it a talent? That woman was an accident waiting to happen….

He couldn't help but smile a bit as she stumbled with the leaves she was collecting and placing inside her little burrow of a bed. Klutzy as hell, but he'd have her no other way.

He told her she didn't have to work, that he'd take care of it, but she was stubborn sometimes. He knew she'd take a break eventually. She was so pretty, he liked to just watch her while he worked. It made it seem worthwhile, that he was doing all this for her.

He finished with the stones and began setting up wood. He'd learned how to make a fire with sticks when he was a kid--there was nothing to it--but his hands wavered a little as he scraped one dry stick along the other. A spark appeared and it encouraged him, but as Sarah stepped towards him his concentration broke and the sticks snapped.

"Nice," Sarah said, all smiles. Becker looked up at her, struggling to hide his own smirk. "Humanity should be proud if its first man makes fire so well."

"It's a talent that gets refined in time," Becker pointed out. "Maybe you'd like to give it a try?"

Sarah held her hands up but made no attempts to leave. "_Mon capitan_, I think you're doing a _tremendous_ job."

Becker blushed and looked back to his work with a smile. "_Mon capitan?_"

"French. '_My captain'_, Becker. I _am _multilingual."

Becker raised his eyebrows. "How many languages do you speak, exactly?"

Sarah looked upwards, thinking. "I think….four. Not counting Klingon."

"_Klingon?_"

"Kidding. Although I did have a rather geeky boyfriend for about three years in high school, and he tried to get me to learn."

Becker thought a moment.

"English, Latin, French…what else?"

"Spanish," Sarah answered. Becker raised his eyebrows.

"Always wanted to learn Spanish," he lied. "Could you teach me?"

Sarah smiled. "_Te quiero_."

Becker furrowed his brow. "What's that mean?" he asked. Sarah had to turn around to hide the blush that crossed her face.

"It means, 'I'd love to teach you'," she lied. Becker nodded slowly.

"How do you say, 'I'd love to learn'?" he asked. A wicked smile crossed Sarah's lips for a moment.

"_Eres hermosa,_" she answered.

"Then, _eres hermosa,_" Becker smiled.

**(Just so's you know: Te quiero = I love you. Eres hermosa = You're beautiful. Just thought I'd throw in a little evil Sarah.)**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own Primeval. **

**Okay, I just had fun with this chapter. (Only I would call angst fun. Maybe I'm a psychopath....or maybe just a psocho-fangirl.) **

Sarah was on the beach, her arms about her knees to hold them to her chest. The sun was setting on their second night in the past, while Becker was busy in the woods, trying to find something worth eating. All he wanted to do was work. He accepted her help when she offered it but assured her she could relax; she guessed he decided she was too much of a burden. Besides, she really _was_ more of a backroom kind of gal.

If there was a backroom in the past. She tended to doubt it.

She loved to watch the sun do down. It was so pretty in the past, where there was no light pollution and the stars appeared just as soon as the sun was gone.

She slowly turned to the side, lifting up on her knuckles so she wouldn't get sand into her swimsuit. She leaned back and tilted her head so she could see their shelter. It was so humble and so…she had to admit it, it was pathetic. But it was theirs, wasn't it?

She smiled as Becker returned, until she saw what he held.

"I am _not _eating that," she said. What she had turned her nose up was some sort of small, scrabbly dinosaur thingy. It looked like it weighed about two pounds, but even if it was a meaty thing she wouldn't touch it. "It's all--dead and creepy."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Becker replied, lifting it up to eye level. "Didn't know you like living dinos for supper."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Isn't there anything less creepy? I mean, it's _looking_ at me."

Becker glanced at the little dinosaur and shrugged. "That's part of the experience, Sarah."

Sarah shared his smile but was unwilling to relent. "It's just weird, seeing it and then eating it."

Becker shook his head. "Come on, Sarah. Just close your eyes and pretend like it's chicken, or turkey or something."

"Turkey?" Sarah asked skeptically. "Unlikely." She rolled onto her side, facing away from Becker and the dinosaur.

Becker finally just rolled his eyes and stepped to the tiny little smoldering fire. He dropped a stick onto it, making the flames rise a little, and then cocked his head to the side.

"How do you s'pose we cook it?" he asked, then sighed when Sarah ignored him, facing the opposite direction. "Come on, Sarah. We have to make it work until they find us."

Sarah gave a halfhearted grunt.

"Sarah." Becker grimaced. "Just think about it. We don't know when they're going to get here, but when they do, we've got to be alive and well."

Sarah didn't acknowledge him, and Becker took a step towards her.

"Sarah, I won't let you get hurt here," he murmured, stepping towards her. "I'm going to cook this damn chicken and you're going to eat it, because I don't want you to starve to death. I won't let you get hurt--I can't.

"Sarah, I love you."

He expected Sarah to speak at that, but she was unresponsive. He gritted his teeth, looking around unhappily.

"God, Sarah," he exclaimed. "I'm bearing everything to you, okay? What the hell? Say something! You're mad, you're happy, you're hungry--damn it, say something!"

Sarah remained silent and he sighed. "Okay, so that's how it is, then," he frowned. He dropped the dinosaur into the fire, where the flames licked up about its form. He didn't bother urging Sarah to return to her little hole in the tree--he just sat down, leaning up against the tree and allowing sleep to calm his torrential heart.

Sarah's breaths were slow and even. She had been sleeping the entire time.


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own Primeval. **

**I am _SO_ sorry I haven't updated in a while! I was kidnapped by the tenth doctor (not literally, however greatly I wish it to be so) when I bought the series four dvds and watched Doctor Who for the first time ever. After beginning with uncontrollable obsession and then fury at the last episode (no spoilers, of course) I began a crossover with Doctor Who and Primeval, and I'll start uploading when it's finished. I hope I can be true to the characters of the Doctor and Donna, but I'm only a beginner in the Doctor Who genre so don't judge me harshly if I'm bad. Constructive criticism is welcome. **

**Wow. I just went off on a total tangent there. **

**But I digress. Back to Primeval. **

**Caution: Angry Becker drops the f-bomb. Readers beware. **

Sarah woke the next morning to find herself out on the sand. She was groggy and couldn't remember much of the previous night, but after several moments of looking curiously at the strange dead dinosaur in the flames she remembered Becker's attempts to feed her. She felt bad about not eating it; she was curious, however, why the entire thing was in the soot. Hadn't Becker eaten?

She pushed herself onto her feet and looked to their tree home. Becker wasn't there; she furrowed her brow. Maybe he went to that little stream.

She pursed her lips, thinking about when Becker saved her. What _had_ he been doing by the stream-watching her? The thought made her feel both violated and flattered.

But then no. He was a soldier, while she was a doctor. More to the point, how could someone that _hot_ be into her?

She shook her hair out. It was sandy again, but she could wash it in the lake. She bent her head into the water and shook it around. It didn't get rid of the oil in her skin, but it at least made her hair manageable.

A few paces at the water's edge made her smile. She couldn't help it; the water shimmered and the choppy waves were white as snow. It was beautiful.

"Up?"

The curt voice behind her made her whirl; she greeted a cold-looking Becker with a bright smile.

"Hey," she said, her smile breaking a little when Becker still looked on her darkly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, stepping towards the water. "Never better. Suppose you're good?"

Sarah shrugged, barely noticing the bitterness in Becker's voice. "As good as you can be when you're stuck in the past, I suppose," she said. "Hey, I've been thinking. There's got to be good foliage out there that we can eat. Maybe we don't have to eat dinosaurs."

Becker pursed his lips. "Okay. I'll find some berries," he scoffed. "It's not like they can be poisonous or anything."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "What's gotten your knickers in a knot?"

Becker laughed coldly. "Shall I list the reasons alphabetically, or chronologically?"

"What?" Sarah asked. "I mean-besides being stranded in the past, obviously. But it could be worse."

"How?"

Sarah shrugged. "You know-could be alone."

Becker snorted. "I am alone, Sarah. Don't you remember last night?"

Sarah's mouth fell open in shock. "Is _that_ what this is about? Last night? God, it's not that important!"

Becker gritted his teeth. "Is that what you think?" he growled. "Then that just goes to prove it. I _am_ alone."

With that he stormed into the forest, leaving Sarah alone and confused. She was not to be left this way, however; she shot into the forest after him, grabbing his arm to force him to face her.

"What's going on?" she asked angrily. "Last night? Why does it matter so much to you?"

Becker glared at her; she had met a prehistoric crocodile face to face, been terrorized by terror birds, nearly trampled by prehistoric rhinos, and attacked by giant bugs. What she had never seen, however, was a furious Becker, and that was by far the most terrifying of all.

"_I-fucking-told-you-I-fucking-love-you._"

Sarah gasped in disbelief. "What-no!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. "No, you told me you wanted me to eat the stupid dinosaur and then I _sort of _fell asleep-"

They were both silent, staring at each other in horror. Their lips moved but no words came out. Finally Becker shook his head quickly.

"You were-sleeping?" His voice somehow dropped from enraged to scared and slightly embarrassed. "Oh."

"Oh," Sarah agreed quietly, unable to look away from Becker. He didn't just say he told her he loved her, did he? No, she misheard him. But then he lifted a hand to caress her cheek and leaned in, ever so slightly, inhaling slowly. Her mind went totally blank as she pushed herself onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips into the captain's.


	8. Chapter 8

In the end, Sarah allowed Becker to force-feed her some of the dinosaur meat and found it not too disgusting. She decided to make herself useful finding vegetation they could eat and collecting it in a little cache.

They realized after the first few days that they were lucky where and when they ended up. Becker took a day's walk both directions around the lake and they made a makeshift map of sticks and leaves in the sand. Large therapod predators lived mostly in one part of the forest, a few miles from their camp, while only small predators skirted through their part of the forest, which they didn't enter much anyway. Becker fashioned some rudimentary spears-not bad, Sarah commented, for the first spears ever-and taught Sarah how to throw them correctly.

Their 'resort' as they decided to call it now provided them with a surplus of food, and a surplus of free time. Sarah found herself spending more and more time with Becker. The just talked most of the time, about their lives before the anomaly project and about their friends and just about one another….and _them._

One morning Sarah decided to go into the lake again (despite Becker ordering her not to). She found Becker asleep in his crevice in the boughs of their tree home and decided she'd be back before he woke.

She waded into the water until she was tiptoeing to keep her neck up; then she dipped her head under slowly, opening her eyes to scan the water.

It was fun, she had to admit, being there with Becker. There was no work other than the business of survival. They had plenty of food and water to last them. But a tropical paradise could not be paradise when they were missing their friends.

She kicked her way through the water, peering down through. It was relatively clear today without so many waves. She could see down meters beneath the surface.

She realized her mistake with the sea creature that had first attacked her. She had just been looking for light beneath the surface. She should've been looking specifically for the shimmering shards of light in an anomaly.

She spun about in the water, looking back to the beach. Becker was there, still asleep. She smiled.

She continued searching until she saw it. It wasn't just a glow in the water-there were bright flashes of light swarming about the central nucleus of light.

She swam back to the shore and ran up the beach to Becker, shaking his shoulder. "Becker!" she exclaimed, laughing a little as he jerked awake and almost fell from the tree.

"Wha-yeah, Sarah?" he asked, squinting in the sunlight. "What's happening?"

"Becker, I found the anomaly!" she said happily, pointing out into the water. "Come on, let's go!"

"Hold on, Sarah," Becker said. "You went out there? I _ordered _you not to!"

Sarah just beamed at him. "I'm just not very good at following orders, captain."

They ran out into the water. Sarah noticed how dark his skin had gotten from all the time in the bright sun, and how good it looked as droplets of clear water shimmered in the sun around him. They swam out until Sarah looked under and saw the shimmering array of light.

"There!" she exclaimed, pointing to the underwater anomaly. He nodded and grabbed her wrist, and they both took a deep breath before pushing themselves under.

It was difficult to fight through as the water tried to repel the air in their lungs, but Becker was a strong swimmer. Sarah closed her eyes as the past disappeared and the soldier began pulling her back to the surface.

When she opened her mouth to collect a gasp of air, she expected the water on her lips to be salty. On the contrary, she winced at the chemical taste of chlorine. Opening her eyes, she saw they were in the deep end of a swimming pool.

She and Becker kicked towards the edge and climbed out, the tile floor cool to their bare feet.

"How did we get here?" Becker asked. Sarah thought a moment before answering.

"The anomaly must have rested on a temporal fault line," she guessed. When Becker shook his head in confusion, she went on. "One of Cutter's theories. There can be a fixed position on one end of an anomaly, and the other end could move freely along a theoretical 'fault line'."

Becker stared down into her eyes. She looked at him blankly until he began to lean in again, passion blacking her out until they finally registered the voices behind them.

"The anomaly's this way, come on-Becker? Sarah? Oh-_oh_."

They pulled apart quickly, seeing Abby, Connor, and Danny standing there. Abby and Connor were looking away, Danny was grinning ear-to-ear but remained silent as he stepped forward, clapping Becker on the back.

They returned to life as usual at the ARC…as usual as it ever got. They closed anomalies. Becker led his men, Sarah studied in her office. But there was an electricity in the space between that was new, and neither of them would ever complain.


End file.
